Hi everyone. I was wondering if people would be interested in a 3x3 World Basketball Championship? 3x3 Basketball, also known as half-court basketball or street basketball, is a form of basketball played on half a court with three players on each team. While we all watch the 5 team, full-court version and fill out our NCAA brackets in March (if you are from the USA), 3x3 is most popular version of basketball played in urban areas as a pick-up game. In fact, FIBA (the International Federation of Basketball), which administers 3x3, has said that 3x3 is the largest urban team sport in the world.
Rules
The rules of 3x3 are as follows:
- Each team consists of three players and one substitute.
The game is played on a half-court, with one basket.
A size 6 basketball (circumference of 727–734 mm/28.5–29.0 in) is used for all divisions, including men's competitions. This is the standard size for women's basketball, and smaller than the size 7 standard (749–780 mm/29.5–30.7 in) used in the full-court men's game.
A jump ball is not used to start the game. Instead, a coin toss is held immediately before the game. The winning team can choose to take possession of the ball at the start of the game, or take the first possession of a potential overtime period.
There are no jump balls at any time in the game; neither is there an alternating possession rule. In any held ball situation, the defensive team is granted possession.
Every successful shot inside the arc is awarded one point, while every successful shot behind the arc is awarded two points.
The game is a single period of 10 minutes with sudden death at 21 points. The winner is the first team to score 21 or the team with the highest score at the end of the 10 minutes. A tie in regulation leads to an untimed overtime period, which is won by the first team to score two points in overtime. Note that if a game is tied at 20 at the end of regulation, reaching 21 does not end the games.
Game play starts with the defensive team exchanging the ball with the offensive team behind the arc. This exchange is also used to restart the game from any dead ball situation. If a foul is committed that results in the non-fouling team retaining possession — i.e., a technical or "unsportsmanlike" foul (the latter essentially the same as the "flagrant foul" of North American rule sets) — the non-fouling team will receive the exchange.
A 12-second shot clock is used.
If the defense gains possession of the ball within the arc, by a steal, a block or a rebound, the team must move the ball behind the arc before being allowed to take a shot.
After a made goal or free throw (except for technical or unsportsmanlike fouls and team fouls 10 or more), play restarts with a player from the non-scoring team taking the ball directly under the basket and then dribbling or passing it to a point behind the arc. The defense is not allowed to play for the ball inside the block/charge semi-circle under the basket.
The only common feature between the substitution procedure in full-court and 3x3 is that it can occur only in a dead ball situation. In 3x3, a substitute can only enter from behind the end line opposite the basket, and the substitution becomes official once the player leaving the game has made physical contact with the substitute. Unlike the full-court game, no action from referees or table officials is required.
Each team is allowed one timeout. (The officials may still stop the game in case of player injury or other dangerous situations, as in the standard FIBA rules.)
Individual personal foul counts are not kept. In other words, players cannot be disqualified on the basis of personal fouls. However, a player who commits two unsportsmanlike fouls is disqualified.
Fouls during the act of shooting inside the arc are awarded 1 free throw, whilst fouls during the act of shooting behind the arc are awarded 2 free throws. However, team fouls 7, 8 and 9 are awarded two free throws, whilst team fouls 10 or more are awarded two free throws and possession of the ball.
Technical fouls (including unsportsmanlike fouls) result in two free throws plus possession of the ball, as in the standard full-court game.
Scorination
I have developed a scorinator for 3x3 based of the tennis paradigm. The first team to score 21 points wins the match. I know this doesn't exactly parallel the above rules about scoring, but with my limited coding ability, its the best I can do. If somebody wants to create a scorinator to more exactly match the rules of 3x3, feel free to do so. As it is, however, I offer my scorinator for consideration. Some IC reason could no doubt be created to explain the difference.
Don't feel like you have to save my feelings about my scorinator. I know I am a poor substitute for a real coder.
Other Matters
Obviously the NCAA tournaments are going on right now and the IBC is about to start. So any 3x3 World Championship will have to wait until after these tournaments are finished. However, I thought I would introduce the topic now to see how much interest there is so people can have it in the back of their mind while these tournaments finish.
Hosts will be bidded out.
Any urban court can be used for matches.
To learn more about 3x3 visit the wikip article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3x3_(basketball)
That all being said, what do people think?
I'll TG you when I open signups.